Playback

Praat for Beginners:
Tutorial: Playback

1. Sound objects and LongSound objects
2. Sound sources
3. Playback from the Sound recorders
4. Playback from the Objects window
5. Playback from the Sound editor

• See also
  • Quick guide to playback
  • Quick guide to sound settings
  • Sound objects and LongSound objects
  • Troubleshooting bad playback
  • Choosing earphones or loudspeakers
  • Managing sound
  • Mono and stereo

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1. Sound objects and LongSound objects

• Playback procedure is different for Sound objects and LongSound objects in Praat. Make sure you know the difference.
• Sound objects are loaded completely, and you can do more with them. LongSound objects are too large to load completely. They are loaded a little at a time, as you choose, and you can do less with them. For more details see LhereL.

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2. Sound sources

• Check that necessary sound devices are connected and switched on.
• Check that the sound source is set in the Windows volume control:

Wave is for sound files, Praat Sound objects, and AudioCD in the computer’s CD or DVD drive. Microphone is your sound system’s microphone input. Line-in is your sound system’s line input. It’s good practice to mute unused sources. See the Windows volume control for more details.

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3. Playback from the Sound recorders

• Clicking the Play button plays a new recording, so long as it’s still available (i.e. still held in the Sound buffer).
• Playback from the Sound recorders cannot be interrupted (the [Esc] or [Tab] keys are not active there).
• The default Sound buffer size (20MB) is large enough for a new recording to be a Praat LongSound. That doesn’t affect playback (the recording is safe so long as it’s in the buffer).
• For more details see Sound recorder playback.

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4. Playback from the Objects window

• Sound objects and LongSound objects are handled differently.

• Select a Sound object and click Play.
  • The [Esc] key is active and stops playback.
  • The [Tab] key is not active, and does not toggle playback on/off.

• Select a LongSound object and click Play part. Then set the start and end times of what you want to hear. Repeat the procedure to listen again.
  • The [Esc] key is active and stops playback.
  • The [Tab] key is not active, and does not toggle playback on/off.

• For more details see Objects window playback.

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5. Playback from the Sound editor

• There’s no difference between Sound objects and LongSound objects in the Sound editor with regard to playback, although they are handled differently in other respects.
• The next two pictures show, respectively, a Sound object and a LongSound object in the Sound editor. The relevant details are marked A-H on both

• Both are zoomed to a previous selection, and there’s a new selection (A) in the visible part, dividing it into three. Letters B-H indicate where a mouse click will play different parts of the sound signal.
  • B plays what you see before the selection A.
  • C plays the selection A.
  • D plays what you see after the selection A.
  • E plays the whole visible part.
  • F (left) plays the hidden part before what you see.
  • G (right) plays the hidden part after what you see.
  • H plays the entire sound signal, hidden and visible parts.
• The [Esc] key stops playback completely.
• The [Tab] key toggles stop/continue as often as you wish during playback.

• For more detail see Sound editor playback.

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©Sidney Wood and SWPhonetics, 1994-2012